Experience matters in the Philadelphia Section PGA, which
was proven again as a patient Terry Hertzog, the head pro at the Country Club
of York, carded a 1-under-par 70 at Laurel Creek Country Club in Mount Laurel,
N.J. Thursday to win the 96th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship,
the third time he has captured the Section crown.
Hertzog is a member of the Philadelphia Section’s remarkable
group of senior pros that has to be one of the strongest groups of over-50 types
of any Section in the country.
Hertzog, for instance, had to hold off the reigning
Philadelphia Senior PGA champion Dave Quinn of Philmont Country Club to capture
the title. Hertzog’s final-round 70 over the 6,545-yard, par-71 Laurel Creek
layout gave him a 54-hole total of 2-under 210.
Quinn was right there at 2-under until he made a bogey at
the 16th to fall back to 1-under. He matched Hertzog’s final round
of 1-under 70 to claim runnerup honors at 1-under 211.
It looked like the whole field was playing for second when
LedgeRock Golf Club pro Tony Perla, one of the rising stars in the Section,
fired a 7-under 64 at Laurel Creek in Wednesday’s second round to take a
commanding five-shot lead into the final round.
Perla, however, struggled to a final round of 80 to finish
tied for fourth at 1-over 213. But it was a valuable learning experience and he
does get the consolation prize of being among the 13 players who will represent
the Section in the PGA Professional Championship at the Bayonet and Black Horse
Courses in Seaside, Calif. next June.
One of Section’s senior players, Applebrook Golf Club head
pro Dave McNabb, nearly won this year’s PGA Professional Championship at the
Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore., falling in a playoff to former PGA Tour
player Omar Uresti.
But this day belonged to Hertzog, who joined an illustrious
list of pros who have won the Section title at least three times. Entering the
final round trailing Perla by seven shots, Hertzog got it to 4-under with
birdies at five, 10 and 11. His fast start enabled him to survive late bogeys
at 16 and 18 as Laurel Creek’s home stretch played very tough Thursday.
“It feels really amazing to get this win today,” Hertzog,
who played all four rounds in last fall’s Senior PGA Professional Championship,
presented by GolfAdvisor and Mercedes-Benz USA, at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker
Course, told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “I honestly didn’t think I
had a chance heading into today, but I wanted to put together a good round to
qualify for the PGA Professional Championship next June.
“I played really well early in the day and that helped
offset some blemishes late in the day.”
Defending champion Jordan Gibbs, an assistant pro at Gulph
Mills Golf Club, was Perla’s closest pursuer heading into the final round, but
faltered a little down the stretch. His final round of 3-over 74 left him alone
in third at even-par 212.
Sharing fourth with Perla at 1-over 213 were another of the
Section’s senior stalwarts, Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf
Range in Newtown Square, and Spring-Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz,
a member of the club of three-time Section winners that Hertzog joined
Thursday. Each carded a 1-under 70 in the final round.
Ingraham, 57 years young, had already earned a trip to this
year’s Senior PGA Professional Championship, presented by Mercedes-Benz USA and
supported by GolfAdvisor and John Deere, which tees off Sept. 28 at Desert
Mountain’s Cochise and Geronimo Courses in Scottsdale, Ariz. That would mean,
by my count, that when he tees it up in the PGA Professional Championship at
Bayonet and Black Horse next summer, it will mark the 30th national PGA
event he has played in.
Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club, Radley Run
Country Club assistant pro Brett Melton and Brendon Post, an assistant coach
and director of player development for the Delaware men’s and women’s golf programs,
finished tied for seventh at 2-over 214.
Stewart and Melton each carded a final round of 1-over 72.
Post, who had grabbed a share of the opening-round lead with a 3-under 68 at Laurel
Creek, finished up with a 3-over 74.
It will be the first appearance in the PGA Professional
Championship for Stewart. It won’t be his last.
Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club,
finished tied for 10th at 4-over 216 with Alex Knoll of Bethlehem Golf
Club. Sheftic, who played all four rounds at this summer’s PGA Professional
Championship at Sunriver, had a final-round 73 while Knoll posted a 1-over 72.
Rusty Harbold, from the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, finished
tied for 12th with McNabb at 5-over 217. Harbold had a final-round
75 while McNabb finished up with a 76.
It appeared from the results that Harbold and McNabb grabbed
the final two berths from the Section Championship to Bayonet and Black Horse,
although I think it's possible
McNabb was exempt after his runnerup finish at Sunriver.
Quinn, Ingraham and McNabb will represent the Philadelphia
Section in both the PGA Senior Professional Championship later this month at
Desert Mountain and the PGA Professional Championship next June at Bayonet and
Black Horse.
Because somehow, in the Philadelphia Section, the club pros
age like fine wine.
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